Hey y’all 👋🏼 I hope you’ve been enjoying Sana’s Notes so far, if there is anything you’d like to hear about from me, just hit the Reply button and let me know! I hope you enjoy this week’s catch-up.

— Sana Tabassum

🍎 food for thought

It’s Thursday already??!??!!! I was sitting on the sofa earlier, watching HIMYM (as you do) and sorting out my calendar. I always try to plan my time efficiently and prioritise breathing space. Because if I’ve learnt one thing from architecture school it’s that things can go wrong so it’s better to expect and plan for it than cry about it later. I’ve spoken about Murphy’s Law before but I believe in the power of gaining back control over your time through simple time-management techniques.

Believe me when I say, I’m a classic introvert. I was never the person to go to parties or out clubbing and low-key still get nervous going out to events even if it’s something I’m genuinely excited about. I found myself in a similar situation at the start of this week as I took my first solo trip up to Sheffield. A moment that made me chuckle was whilst walking up one of many Sheffield’s steep hills, I remembered being in that exact spot almost 8 years ago for my BA interview. Crazy.

I was very lucky to be giving my personal branding talk to a very lovely group of SSoA students, invited by their architecture society and I couldn’t have asked for a better experience. I was pretty nervous because the last time I gave that talk it was to about 3 people. I guess what I’m trying to say is that although I’ve signed myself up for a lot of events, projects and initiatives, I’m pretty sure I’ll be satisfied when I’m on the other side of it.

What I’ve learned 👇🏼

• There’s a concept (and book that I haven’t read) called Hell Yeah or No. I think it’s pretty much what it says on the tin that any opportunity that comes your way should be a hell yeah and that you should be excited for it rather than just saying yes to be polite. I’m often guilty of doing that but I’ve realised that for my own sanity there are some things I have to say no to.

• Protect your energy. I mentioned breathing space and that’s equally important for social activities and day-to-day routine stuff. If your energy is off, it is going to affect your output.

• I’m trying harder to embrace the ‘fake it till you make it’ concept and I think it’s working somewhat to keep my confidence high without letting my inner thoughts and anxiety surface.

🍗 content nuggets

I got sent the following article in Forbes, which is about the use of AI in CV’s, I presume mostly for visuals and keywords. There’s also a handful of AI tools developed by Canva and Grammarly so the friction to get going is quite low. But the thing that didn’t surprise me was the statistic that “In fact, 71% of respondents say that purely text-based résumés will be obsolete in five years.”

I’ve been telling design students and graduates that they need to drop the plain and boring CVs and add some personality to their CVs whether that’s by engaging text or including their work in their CV and turning it onto a piece of art.

What do you think about using AI in a CV?

The other day I came across this account on Instagram and upon reading the caption, I realised two things. One, that Lewis’ story is super inspiring. His journey of becoming a founder at 24 and now having a fully-fledged business is mind-blowing to me. I’m really looking forward to more content from him. Second, I’m so keen to connect with similar people in the architecture and design industry as I believe we can all learn something from one another. If that’s you, hit reply to this email and let’s connect!

🌶️ spicy tips

I’m starting a new series next month called Prep for Practice and I’ll be sharing tips and insights into what life is like in practice and some of the basic things you can begin to educate yourself on if you’re starting a job soon or simply want to understand the differences between being a student and being a professional.

Make sure you’re following along on Instagram! ✌🏼

— Sana x